Fall 2006 - College of Dental Medicine - Columbia University

elow, left:Tanya Oks,YaseminKilicak, Jennifer Castro, andPeter Frandsen, all class of ’09,sightseeing in Ephesus,Turkey,following their externship weekin Ankara.below, right: Karam Ashoo ’03,ready for the weather in Iqaluit,near the Arctic Circle.tours and field trips. The objective is to educate thestudents about the human body and to help themunderstand the causes and treatments of illness.HANNAH AHN ’08, a volunteer for the LangProgram, says, “The opportunity to work with childrenin the process of educating them appealed tome ... it’s my goal to motivate them ... to help themdevelop social, personal and academic skills, and –perhaps – serve as a role model for pursuingcareers in the health profession.”EXTERNSHIPS IN ANKARAFOR FOUR CDM STUDENTSIzmir-born YASEMIN KILICAK ’09, who, following afew years in Saudi Arabia, has lived in the UnitedStates since the age of nine, decided she had to goback to Turkey last summer – to see how dental studentswere educated there. It was only natural: hergrandmother, now retired, was one of the firstwomen dentists in Turkey. At Yasemin’s request, theDean and faculty of the University of Ankara’s dentalschool invited her and three other CDM students,TANYA OKS ’10, JENNIFER CASTRO ’10, and PETERFRANDSEN ’10, to spend a one-week externship ontheir campus. The group found their time in Ankaraenlightening and interesting. They observed proceduresin every specialty and made friends withTurkish dental students, who were both knowledgeableand helpful. All four called the week “an amazingexperience!” Traveling through the country aftercompleting their externship week was made easybecause Yasemin speaks Turkish, although (so hercousins say) with an accent!KARAM ASHOO ’03FREEZING, BUT FUNKARAM ASHOO, president of the Class of 2003 andcurrently a first-year CDM postdoctoral endodonticsstudent, recently returned from treating dentalpatients in Iqaluit, Canada, not far from the Arctic circle.A fellow Canadian, who had built a clinic in thisfast growing town, capital of the new Nunavut territoryon Frobisher Bay, offered him a chance to spendtwo months treating dental patients in Iqaluit, wheretemperatures can linger around minus 40 degreesfahrenheit. Karam’s love of adventure led him to signon for April and May of 2006.Dr. Ashoo’s patients sometimes traveled great distancesand many days from outlying areas ofNunavut across frozen waters by komatik, a big“sort of wooden Santa Claus sled,” pulled by snowmobile.Like his patients, Karam learned to wearlayers of protection against wind and snow: “twopairs of socks, two pairs of pants, four layers on mytorso, two layered gloves, Russian-style hat (withear flaps), scarf, ski goggles, and snow boots,” which,he adds, “saw more use in two Iqualuit weeks, thanfor two winters in Boston.” When the Tundraspring arrived, raising the temperature slightly30primus2006